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Hard to watch a Saturday morning car/truck repair program on TV without commercials about
"Dustless Blasting."
Do any of youse guys (Wisconsinism) have knowledge of this dustless blasting system?
Does it really work?
What media is used to remove paint and rust?
Can it be done in your driveway and flush the paint and dust down the sewer without
the city hazardous police going berserk or the neighbors doing back-flips?
Is the residual dust, like sand in sand blasting a problem?
What's it COST?

Yes.... I could call the company and ask these same questions but might get straighter answers from outsiders.

Jerry

Hi JB,

Dustless blasting mixes water with the media to combine a "powerwasher" with a "glass beader".

Yes........it works.

The media is recycled glass bottles.......so there's no silica like in regular sand to cause respiratory issues.

It can be done in your driveway if allowed by your state and city policy........I don't know the details on this one.

There is no residual "dust"..........more of a wet overspray.

One of the claimed benefits is no metal warping, as the water cools the metal as the media cleans it..........but I haven't seen this proved firsthand.

It's EXPENSIVE because you need a HUGE compressor to provide the CFMs needed, and you have to buy rust inhibitor to mix with the water, and you have to buy the recycled glass. I believe you cannot dry out the used glass/water mess and re-use the glass. Oh......and there's the cost of the blaster itself.

Now an ingenious lad could probably figure out a way to literally hook up his pressure washer to a gravity fed container of media and do the same thing for cheap......but it wouldn't be easy.

Or........you could bribe your wife to hold the garden hose on the parts you're sandblasting, and have a beach party when all the water evaporates.......but I don't recommend you try this (for the sake of your marriage).

later,
bob

Yep, works and works great. Yes it takes a high volume expensive air compressor but any blaster that does a good job requires one.
The nice aspect of the dustless other than dustless is the surface is kept cool and treated against flash rust.

Blast with a power washer, check out this: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... _200660204

Bob, you mentioned EXPENSIVE..

I don't want to rig one of these things myself, I want to hire a Dustless Blasting franchisee in my area.
So the question still is..... what is the estimated cost to do the exterior of a car or truck.

I realize cost would go up if other areas, like engine bay, firewall, interior and frame and running gear
are included.

Not necessarily putting these questions on you guys, but would be good info for all of us to have.
Guess I should just call Dustless Blasting and ask. (Too easy?)

Thanks,
Jerry

BTW... my wife would rather spend four hours listening to Rap music or bagpipes than help on my truck.

I've been looking at a dual sand/soda blaster to use on my M37 build as well. However, the compressors to run standard rigs run $1000+ alone then several hundred for the blaster rigs. The water blaster attachments for a power washer look really attractive and can run different media including soda.

http://www.ultimatewasher.com/sandblaster.htm

Hi Jerry,

I mentioned EXPENSIVE in the context of buying a personal blasting rig to do a truck or two. There's really two cost issues, one is the initial cost....and the other is the maintenance or life cycle cost. Nothing lasts forever and abrasive equipment is one of those things that REALLY never last. At a business level first there's the equipment. The media I would assume is fairly competitive in cost to other media, but I don't believe is re-usable. That being true, makes it more expensive than conventional media. The compressor needed is expensive because this process uses HUNDREDS OF CFMs, not 10, 20 or 40 like other pneumatic equipment. Compressors also need to be maintained, and those in this size range suck up lots of juice. This process also adds a rust inhibitor to the water, which is an added cost compared to traditional sandblasting, although I think you buy that concentrated and dilute as required...........but still an added cost. Then there's the cost of the actual blasting equipment, and it's continual replacement cost, as most abrasive handling equipment wears out quick. Lastly, I would also assume (and we all know what assuming does) if you wanted to do this professionally you'd need some kind of water reclamation system ($$$$) to satisfy local water Nazis.

With all that being said you'd be offering a service to customers that has tangible benefits over conventional sand blasting, which should (in theory) justify the higher price you're going to need to charge. I would think the bulk of your business would come from professional restoration shops and body shops, not cheap-ass individuals such as myself, who would rather do that type of work myself (thinking it would be cheaper in the long run, but almost always prove myself wrong). I'd also have some reservations about the rust inhibitor and how that would have to be dealt with before paint can be applied.

It's certainly an interesting business venture to investigate. I gotta go...........seems we're under a Tornado Warning!

regards,
bob

m37jarhead wrote:I don't want to rig one of these things myself, I want to hire a Dustless Blasting franchisee in my area.

I don't know what you pay for water or if you have to but what about the mess ? do they have berms and clean evrything up ? I sent out a Datsun 510 recently had all the metal walnut blasted, garnet on the ruff. I had no panel warp on the thin 60s Japanese door skins
cost was $700 no mess for me just travel

for 1500 I could of had it dipped and phosphate coated

Hi Jerry and all,
I see those ads every week on "My Classic Car" which has devolved into an infomercial after 25+ years. That's why I record it then scan for the pertinent "classic cars" that number only 3 or 4 per show.

I too was curious about the cost-I have a regular sand blaster locally who will do the dirty work at $125 an hour that seems reasonable to me as opposed to the dustless approach. Since I plan to tear down and tow the rolling M37 chassis down there before my month off in May, I called in advance for estimates-getting a head start.
Gary

Cal_Gary wrote:Hi Jerry and all,
I see those ads every week on "My Classic Car" which has devolved into an infomercial after 25+ years. That's why I record it then scan for the pertinent "classic cars" that number only 3 or 4 per show.

I too was curious about the cost-I have a regular sand blaster locally who will do the dirty work at $125 an hour that seems reasonable to me as opposed to the dustless approach. Since I plan to tear down and tow the rolling M37 chassis down there before my month off in May, I called in advance for estimates-getting a head start.
Gary

Looks like you pay premium price. I have an excellent sand blasting/powder coating outfit that charges $40 per hour.
They also chem dip any small parts and do gas tanks too...... same hourly price.

JB

WHERE????? I just got reamed last week at Case. And affordable is at $80 an hour.

just me wrote:WHERE????? I just got reamed last week at Case. And affordable is at $80 an hour.

Xpress Metal Cleaning 1146 East Buckeye Road Phoenix 602-628-7306. Family owned. Nice people, excellent work at
VERY reasonable prices. Tell 'em I sent you. I'll be dropping off an M37 door for blasting and an intake manifold for
powder coating. "pinch" or slide your finger on the pics for more info. Jerry

Guess I better shop around a little more!
Gary

$40 an hour. Consider this, $15 per hour for a man to do the blasting, media ranges from $5 to $50 per hundred #. Depends on the type and where you buy, cheap stuff is like everything else that is cheap, you get what you pay for. The initial cost of the equipment, thousands of $$$, off the charts pricing on consumables that you go through faster than one can ever imagine. This is the top quality, longest lasting tungsten carbide nozzles, by far the cheapest overall because of how long they do last, cheap stuff like ceramic is virtually useless. I just spent over $500 last week, items were delivered in a box about the size of a standard 1 quart spin-on oil filter box. In a cabinet like ours, there is gloves that wear out every week or 2 from the abrasion if it runs much at all, clear lens covers that are so clouded you can't see anything after only a few hours, inlet and outlet filters, incoming air moisture skimming, oil skimming, and air drying systems, and the extreme maintenance time to frequently service all that. Fact is if we blasted at the rate of $40 per hour, we would be operating in the extreme red category after the first 2 minutes into the project. Blasting is overall one of THE MOST costly operations we do when all factors are tallied up. I would like to know your $40 per hour guys secret to breaking even at that rate, just forget making a profit.

I had my M37 bed dustless blasted for $250 in Galesville, WI. It came out perfect with no distortion and was very fast.

Extreme did a great job with 1 day turn around on my windshield frame, wheels and rings, top bows and a pile of small parts. Great guys to do business with.